


Journeys

by morrezela



Series: The Fairy Tale 'Verse [3]
Category: Supernatural RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fairy Tale, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Fairy Tales, M/M, Magic, Royalty
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-23
Updated: 2013-03-23
Packaged: 2017-12-06 07:09:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,343
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/732843
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/morrezela/pseuds/morrezela
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Fairytale AU: Jensen and Jared both set out on a journey for their king, but their missions are drastically different. The third installment of the Sorcerer-Carpenter verse.</p>
<p>Reading Staircases and Portraits first is advisable if you don’t want to be confused.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Journeys

**Author's Note:**

> All mistakes you find are my own.

When it came to love, Jared had been afflicted by the curse of The Stag’s bow more than most. Once his body began to change into a man’s, he had fallen in and out and in again. He truly hated the ‘out’ part of love because it was never his choice. No matter who it was that his affections chose to bestow themselves on, it was always his lover who left him.

Jared was faithful to a fault. He didn’t give his heart only to take it back, and there were times that he had worried that perhaps he just wasn’t enough.

His mother had always laughed at that notion. She would tell him that he was young, and that young lovers were often fickle, but as Jared aged, he began to doubt his mother’s wisdom.

When he came to the castle, he had purposed within himself to start anew. No more love affairs. He would only focus on his work and become successful. Perhaps, he reasoned, if he were to gain a reputation as a skilled craftsman, he would be more desirable to his lovers. An established man could provide for a family. He was not such a gamble in terms of finances.

And certainly he had still fallen for the charms of some of the maidens that worked about the palace, but he had kept his attentions to them as harmless as possible. Minor flirtations and smiles were what he gave, and in turn he would receive an extra tart or new sheets on his bunk when he was not yet on the rotation for them.

Jared did not actively pursue any of them, and he was busy enough with learning the techniques of a true master craftsman that he was not bothered by the absence of that feeling of being in love. He thought to himself that he had devised a great plan, and congratulated himself on his calm logic and growing manhood.

To spite him, his manhood certainly grew, and it was highly inappropriate.

Jared was not a stranger to appreciating the male form. He had stolen kisses from the baker’s son right before he had left for the castle. Though it had been nothing more than a passing fancy, he had enjoyed them the same as he had the attentions of the stable master’s daughters.

Yes, daughters. Plural. When the eldest left Jared for the baron’s son, he could not fault her there because he would have left her for the baron’s son, she had pushed her little sister at him. They had been quite the couple, and Jared had held hopes for a betrothal before the girl’s brother-in-law’s cousin came to visit.

Jared would not have left her for the ruddy face, portly man, but he’d heard that the cousin was very wealthy. Beulah had been possessed of an active imagination, and he supposed if one closed one’s eyes and pretended hard enough, one could accomplish many things in one’s marriage. Imagination and denial could be a potent combination.

But even though Jared had felt the trappings of love before, he’d never gone beyond his place. It had always been a conscious decision, and the object of his affection had always been fitting for him. That was why his feelings for the king’s sorcerer worried him.

At first it had been a harmless infatuation. Jensen had taken the time to speak kindly towards him, and Jared had appreciated that. When Jared had stumbled upon the distressed man later in the day, he had only sought to offer the same comfort to him. He had felt compelled to make Jensen feel better, and while the urgency of the need had been uncomfortably foreign in its strength, the desire to offer aide to the suffering had always been in Jared’s nature.

It was Jared’s attraction to Jensen that bothered him the most. It tugged at him like a living thing, and he knew that he was out of his place to even fancy about it. The whole kingdom knew that Jensen was a bastard child, but the scandal of his birth neither mitigated his late father’s standing in the court nor his own.

Jensen socially outclassed Jared, and he had no business daydreaming about the man. The knowledge of the improperness of Jared’s feelings did nothing to mitigate them. He wanted to take care of Jensen, protect him and listen to his problems.

He also had badly, badly wanted to suck Jensen’s tongue into his mouth to learn its shape and taste. He’d desired to push the young sorcerer down to the ground worship the man’s body with his own then drag him back to Jared’s small living quarters and hold him close, swaddle him in the rough blankets of Jared’s station like a babe in need of comfort.

But mostly, Jared had wanted. He’d just yearned with a terribly strong hunger that frightened him. It was foreign and seemingly uncontrollable in its ferocity. He couldn’t get rid of the urge to be near Jensen. Everywhere that he turned, he would imagine the sorcerer right there next to him. He craved Jensen’s companionship. Worse, he almost felt entitled to it.

Which was how Jared managed to stumble his way into a private conversation between King Harrison and his trusted magical advisor, he’d shamefully been hanging about the palace, trying to catch a glimpse of Jensen. There were purloined candies in his pocket that had been specially dusted in sweet powders and wrapped in tiny silk pockets to keep them from sticking to each other. They weren’t the candies that were given out to just the workers or even the advisors and council members who made their home in the palace. They were made for transport, a token of sweetness and a remembrance of the palace that were given to those who were taking a sojourn away.

They were made for those who King Harrison favored more than any, and Jared had no business pocketing them. Only it had been too easy of a temptation to steal the sweets because if he was caught, he only had to say that he was fetching them for Jensen as the sorcerer, for whatever reason, was one of the few that the king bestowed such favor upon.

And it wasn’t like Jared had been planning on lying about it. They really were for Jensen. Just because the king hadn’t specifically chosen to share the sweets at that point in time, that didn’t mean anything. What was more important was that Jared had a bona fide excuse to search Jensen out, and in his own giddy celebration of his own cleverness, he had overstepped his bounds and stumbled right on into a private conversation.

“I don’t like the idea of you hunting down this sort of magic alone,” King Harrison had rumbled at his mage.

“I will be fine, Highness. It is my position and responsibility to search out those who would harm the crown,” Jensen had replied, and maybe Jared had been listening too hard, but he heard an echo of wistfulness that shouldn’t have been there.

“Still, the woods on the eastern side of the kingdom are treacherous. My enemies seek to usurp me from their borders. You are… close to me, Jensen. I know that you are strong and feared, but I feel for you like you are my own s…”

“Surely Your Majesty is very tired and worries about a good deal of things,” Jensen interrupted rudely. Jared wouldn’t have believed it had the story been told to him by one of the gossiping chamber maids. Jensen was the epitome of correctness. Courtiers could only aspire to reach his levels of consideration and propriety.

Jensen would never dare interrupt his king.

Only he had, and King Harrison’s tone was not upset by it, merely saddened. “I would hope that one day you might be able to look past the station of your birth and see yourself as I do,” he told Jensen.

Jensen’s laugh was bitter. “I’m afraid that my birth will never be far from my mind, no matter how hard Your Majesty wishes it otherwise. There are things about ourselves that we cannot change, things about our world that we cannot hope to sway.”

“Mmmm, and it is this attitude that makes me question your choice to journey alone. Mistrustfulness is as much a blinder to a man as foolishly believing every word that is spoken to him. Faith is not a tool to be disregarded. Even if one misplaces it in the hands of young woodworkers who lurk behind tapestries,” Harrison said as he pushed aside the curtain that Jared had sought to conceal himself behind.

“Your Highness,” Jared stuttered as he tried to bow and lower his head below the level of his king’s.

“Jared, Jared,” the king said with a sigh, “stealth is not an attribute that was given to you in life.”

Jared blushed and kept his eyes turned to the floor. “I beg forgiveness. I did not mean to intrude upon your conversation. I was just searching and had no means of escape.”

“You mean save from the way that you came?” King Harrison sounded amused at least. Perhaps Jared would only be openly mocked and chastised.

“I…”

“He was seeking me out,” Jensen interjected. “I had asked him to bring me sweets.”

“Oh?” the king sounded like he didn’t believe that for one moment, “Then he’ll have them with him.”

Jared swallowed hard and shoved a trembling hand into his pocket. His mother had always warned him about doing the wrong thing for the right reasons. At least now, when he sent her his monthly letter from his jail cell instead of his small chamber, he would be able to tell her that she was right.

“Ahhh, you have the poor boy stealing for you,” King Harrison commented as he plucked the sweets out of Jared’s hand.

“You would have given them to me anyway,” Jensen said instead of implicating Jared as the cause of the thievery.

“I would have,” the king agreed, “but you were in a foul mood and chose to commit your little act of treason to have back at me.”

Jared opened his mouth to deny the accusation, but Jensen beat him to speaking with, “I am always in a foul mood.”

King Harrison laughed. “Oh, I know. Still I should punish the both of you for this. You for your duplicity and Jared for being naïve enough to be made your pawn.”

“Surely you do not wish to harm Jared for this. He is merely a good hearted, noble…”

“Never have I heard such words come out of my dour mage’s mouth,” the king interrupted, his voice lilting in interest.

Jared tried not to breathe for fear of attracting attention back on himself.

“I merely aim to point out that it would be unfair to saddle Jared with a responsibility for something that he had no idea would cause harm,” Jensen reasoned.

“As well he shouldn’t have thought that. I have enough sugar in my storehouses to make many a candy, and I hate to think that I bring unthinking dullards to the palace for apprenticeships. No, Jared has not caused harm, but I do think that a certain sorcerer may have? And while you are all too willing to throw yourself on the kingdom’s blade, I do not think you so willing to throw young Jared on it, now are you?”

Jared heard Jensen take a breath before starting to speak, “Your Highness is…”

“A very forgiving sovereign with a very stubborn young man for his chief magical advisor. You like Jared. Jared hails from the east. As you are in search of a travelling companion and are going in said direction, I suggest that he accompany you on your voyage.”

That actually sounded pretty good to Jared. He was going to get to spend time with Jensen; he wasn’t going to bring shame down upon his family name, and he wasn’t going to end up in the stockades for thievery.

“Your Highness,” Jensen’s voice spoke volumes about the doubts he had for the king’s plan.

“Or I could throw Jared in the stockades for a bit. Stealing the king’s property is a very serious offense. It would be a pity,” Harrison said.

“If it’s all the same to you, I’d prefer to accompany his, uh, um…” Jared froze as his mind just refused to give up Jensen’s official court title like it kept wanting to ascribe royalty to the man, and Jared knew that wouldn’t turn out well.

The king laughed. “Just call him ‘Jensen.’ You’ll be spending enough time with his surly self that you’ll not be wanting a title after a while.”

Jensen harrumphed and tried to say, “Jared is not equipped to deal with…”

“Jensen, I know well enough your opinion on the matter. I’m just overruling it. Now go ready yourself for your trip. I’ll have my guards assist Jared with his preparations as they seem to not manage actually guarding me so well. Perhaps their talents are hidden in their packing skills,” the king said with a pointed look in his guards’ direction.

“Of course, Your Majesty,” Jensen relented with a stiff bow and walked away.

Jared more stumbled than walked after the king’s guards, but he figured that he wasn’t supposed to makes as grand an exit as Jensen anyway.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Their first day of travelling, Jensen spoke hardly a word to Jared. He was in a snit, and Jared knew that when somebody that pretty was in a snit, you let them be. At least, that was what his father had counseled him, and Jared hadn’t had that much occasion to rethink the wisdom of his elder.

The second day was more of the same.

The third day, Jensen started rambling about candies. At first Jared had thought that the sorcerer was about to launch into an exposition about how stupid Jared had been, but instead he just talked and talked and talked until finally Jared said, “I know it was stupid, okay? There isn’t a reason to belabor the point.”

“What?” Jensen asked, befuddlement stretched adorably across his freckled brow.

“I said that you don’t need to keep harping on it. I get that you’re not liking the fact that I’m here, and I’m sorry you had to pull my bacon out of the fire with the king.”

“I can’t believe you used the word ‘belabor,’” Jensen noted with amusement.

Jared huffed and shifted in his saddle. He wasn’t used to long hours of riding, and it was as good an excuse as any to hide his more emotional discomfort. “I’ll have you know that my parents are very well educated for their standing in society,” Jared informed him.

“I know,” Jensen said as if he truly did know. And as far as Jared knew, he actually did. After all, he had known exactly what was in Jared’s pockets before the king made him reveal it. Jensen was a powerful sorcerer. He had probably used his mystical powers to investigate Jared’s entire life before they even set foot on their journey.

The thought sent a shiver down Jared’s spine. It wasn’t that he had anything to hide. His life might have been simple and full of laborious work, but it had never been shameful. It was humble and not what a man of Jensen’s great power would find intriguing or enticing. But Jared’s thoughts about the sorcerer, those would be most disgraceful to have discovered. Jared knew himself to be out of bounds, but those thoughts had stayed firmly in his own mind.

At any other time, he would have been secure in his belief that Jensen was a man of honor and not disposed to picking in another man’s brain. This was not any other time. Though Jensen had been steadfast in not giving Jared any details, Jared could tell well enough that the quest they were on had great importance to the crown. As such, King Harrison would surely have asked Jensen to use all of his magic to ensure the success of the venture.

“You flush like a maiden,” Jensen accused merrily, the first spark of life that Jared had seen come to the other man’s face in days.

“I know not of what you speak,” Jared tried to jest back, but his voice was tight and miserable.

Jensen drew back on the reins of his mount, and Jared was forced to turn his horse around to come back to him.

“I do not wish you ill, Jared,” Jensen said as soon as Jared’s horse drew to a stop.

“I know that!” Jared protested. He couldn’t believe that Jensen would think so little of him as to doubt his faith in one of his kingdom’s most trusted figures.

“I do not think that you do. You know only that I care for your safety, but you fear me just the same. Or you fear my powers if not me,” Jensen paused and pursed his lips before continuing with, “You should not feel poorly about yourself for it. Many of my… king’s subjects feel the same as you, and it is difficult to ignore the influences of others on one’s own mind.”

“I don’t!” Jared snapped, “I have my own mind.”

“Yet you are still afraid of some part of me,” Jensen pushed, a knowing look in his eye.

Jared tilted his chin up in stubbornness and said nothing.

“Ah, that then,” Jensen said after a while, “Jared, I cannot read minds or force you to reveal things you wish to keep hidden. Such things require dark powers that I have no wish to dabble in. Darkness twists and perverts such knowledge. Minds are meant to belong to only those who have them. They are impenetrable, and to peer into one is to risk losing one’s self in nightmares and dreams.”

“If you cannot read minds then how do you know what I was thinking?” Jared asked suspiciously.

Jensen smirked. “I may not read minds, but I can read body language the same as any great diplomat would. You are as an open book to me.”

“Then how did you know about the candies in my pocket?”

Jensen smiled and shook his head. “I cannot allow you to know all my secrets, can I? What good is a magician without his mystery?” he finished his sentence with a slap of his reigns, and his horse took off in a canter, effectively taking away Jared’s opportunity for further inquiry.

Jared sighed and turned his horse around to follow after.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Days four through eight of their travel had them winding through towns that Jensen seemed intent on visiting the seamier sides of despite the fact that it was dangerous. It wasn’t that Jared couldn’t comprehend the need for visiting such places. He doubted that whatever evil Jensen was sussing out lived in a nice, warm home with a cheery fireplace.

It was more Jensen’s attitude towards the search that bothered Jared. He pursued it like he hadn’t a care for his own safety and at the same time like he had no desire to find what he was searching for. The whole thing was infuriating, but there wasn’t much that Jared could do about it. The fact of the matter was that he had no clue what Jensen was actually up to, and Jared’s skills were in carving up pieces of wood.

And yet, for all of the mysteriousness of Jensen’s actions and mission, Jared didn’t feel like he was completely worthless. By all rights he should have. Most of his time was spent twiddling his thumbs waiting for Jensen’s return, or if Jensen deemed that it was safe enough, Jared would idle away his time listening in while Jensen asked questions that Jared couldn’t even understand even though he was certain that Jensen was still speaking the common tongue.

Not that Jared didn’t feel completely out of place. He felt as lost as a newborn puppy trying to wriggle its way to its mother’s warmth, all blind and wrinkly. What he came to understand was that the king hadn’t sent him along with Jensen to aide him on his quest. Jensen was for more competent than even Jared had imagined, and he was ashamed to admit that he had always thought quite a deal about the young sorcerer even before the infatuation had set in after actually meeting the man.

But for all of Jensen’s prowess and power, Jared could see the stress and angst that crept over his features at night. He could see the way that wrinkles were starting to set in early. Not the wrinkles of a farmhand who earned them by toiling away in the summer suns or the adorable laugh lines of a man who had experienced more than his share of merriment, but the ones that spoke of loss and sorrow.

Yet for whatever reason, Jensen tolerated Jared’s presence even when he was in his perpetually wretched mood. When he came back from those trips, sometimes a little worse for wear, he’d eventually smile a little at Jared’s enthusiasm for whatever strange new food or brew that the latest city offered them. He’d laugh at the way that Jared took time to pet cats or dogs or talk to little children gawking at his large frame. And even though Jensen wouldn’t open up to Jared, there were time that he appeared to want to do just that.

As the days passed, Jared began to understand the motivation behind King Harrison’s assignment. It wasn’t punishment. It wasn’t even an underestimation of Jensen’s abilities. It was an act of kindness.

Jensen lived in his home in the mountains except for when the king called for his services. The solitude had to be lonely even for a man of Jensen’s reticence. With how he continually kept Jared in the dark about their purpose, Jared would assume that Jensen was not the type to share a burden easily.

Whether the sorcerer knew it or not, he needed somebody. Jared didn’t know that he was the best person for the job. He actually very much doubted that fact because a few days of travel time didn’t mitigate the disparity of their social standings. Maybe, were he magically inclined, he could become an assistant, but Jared wasn’t that person.

He was grounded, strong and loving. He was intelligent and well-read for his social strata, but that did not make him eligible to be in the learned halls of the arcane masters. He was certain that if he ever tried to mix a potion that it would turn out very badly. Jared had fumbled enough fabric dyes in his father’s shop, and he still had a knot of apprehension that formed every time that he touched his varnishes and waxes, afraid that he would ruin them or that he had mixed them incorrectly. He didn’t have the skill that others had, that innate ability to eyeball proportions or know when to add more than the recipe called for.

Jared wasn’t cut out to be Jensen’s permanent companion, but he was the perfect person for the current job, and he wouldn’t fail Jensen at it. And that, he supposed, was why he’d gotten chosen. Jared’s assignment wasn’t about doing the king’s bidding. It was about doing something for Jensen, and Jared understood that this wasn’t about Jared getting in the king’s good graces where others would have seen an opportunity to advance themselves.

At least, he hoped that was what it was about. Otherwise he was going to be in a heap of trouble.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Eleven days into their journey, Jensen started acting suspicious. Jared wasn’t quite certain of how he noticed because Jensen had been singularly uncommunicative and secretive since the moment that they set foot outside the castle gates.

Or to be completely factual about the situation, Jensen had always been rather close mouthed. Not that Jared had known him a long time. Just because the guy happened to notice Jared’s distress one day, that didn’t make them comrades or anything. In fact, it made their forced companionship a bit awkward, or it should have.

Perhaps the real problem was that their shared silences and pointless discussions weren’t strained. Jared’s soul felt like he had known Jensen for forever where the real world informed him that he hadn’t even known the other man for a month.

It was that familiarity that made Jared think Jensen was behaving oddly. Intellect argued that Jensen was supposed to be mysterious. That was what sorcerers and mages did. They walked around not divulging their secrets and hid their homes away from prying eyes so that the local gossips didn’t manage to steal their magical secrets and turn a whole town to stone with their bumbling.

That, at least, was what Jared was certain would happen if the uneducated stole away Jensen’s magnificent books and rituals. Or there could be frogs. Frogs were always in the cautionary tales that he used to scare his sisters with. Maybe even turtles. Turtles would be exciting and different. They were cute with their little shells and…

“I was thinking that we should head south for a bit,” Jensen broke the silence and thankfully halted Jared’s active imagination from running wild.

“Why?” Jared asked, his suspicion about Jensen’s odd behavior coming out.

“Because,” Jensen answered with a little, knowing smile.

Jared huffed and looked away, not wanting to give Jensen the satisfaction of reading Jared’s admittedly open face. “Quit doing that,” he admonished once he was certain that Jensen couldn’t see his countenance.

“Doing what?” the innocence levels in Jensen’s tone were too sugary sweet to be genuine.

“That, thing. That you do,” Jared mumbled.

Jensen chuckled. “That was very informative, Jared. Did you mean perhaps breathing? Because you wouldn’t be the first to wish me to cease such a behavior.”

“You’re being shifty,” Jared accused, ignoring the obvious bait.

“I am. I am indeed, and I’d like to point out that you can’t do a thing about it, so you might as well quit fretting,” Jensen told him.

Jared frowned and sneaked a glance out of the corner of his eye at Jensen. The man was relaxed in his saddle, and looked untroubled. Worse – he looked amused.

“You think to make sport of me,” Jared said, turning to face Jensen again.

“No, not that,” Jensen unhelpfully replied, “but I do wonder at your sudden desire to know what I am doing. You have not voiced any objections thus far.”

“Only because you wouldn’t listen, and I wouldn’t know any better. Better I not ask than have you lie to me. Magic is not my specialty, and I have no desire to make you a deceiver.”

Jensen hummed in his throat and tilted his head to the side. “You would not consider omission a lie then?”

Jared shrugged. “You ask a theoretical question with no basis for me to argue upon. If I am assigned to work on unstable scaffolding, but my master does not tell me because he wishes the job done, then that is a lie. He takes my safety from me, which is his right, but to not tell me at all is a lie. But if my mother does not tell me what my presents are before Summer’s Edge? Well that is not a lie; it is a surprise.”

Jensen grunted, and his form tensed. “Well, I tell you that you are wrong in that.”

“How so?” Jared asked.

“Your master has no right to knowingly take your safety from you, and he should be horsewhipped if he does.”

Jared laughed and shook his head. He didn’t know whether it was Jensen’s sheltered position of his adolescence that brought out such a notion, or maybe one too many stern masters in his rather unprivileged childhood that were coming out in the opinions of the man.

“Oh, Jensen,” he said, “even I know that such things are expected and endured, and my parents laid not a hand on me in punishment in my childhood, even when I might have deserved it. It is the class that I am born to.”

Jensen’s visage twisted in anger. Jared could practically see nightfall shadowing across his fine features. “It is not bearable in any class of people. It should not be tolerated in my kingdom. It wasn’t like this…” his mouth snapped shut with an audible clack. Jaw muscles twitched as he ground his molars together, and his eyes that had just been twinkling in amusement and maybe even mischief were now glaring out at the dusty road as if it had personally affronted him.

Jared said nothing when a few moments later, Jensen jarred his horse into a trot. He merely followed suit and prayed that his own horse could keep pace and distance with Jensen’s.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“You don’t have to ignore me,” Jared almost, almost whined on the evening of day twelve. They had bunkered down in a copse of trees as they weren’t close to any town. If not for the foul mood that Jensen had lapsed into, Jared would’ve been thrilled to be so close to his own village.

The woods they were in were soothing in their familiarity. Many hunting trips had been taken in them. At first, Jared would go searching and hunting for nuts and berries as his mother wished them for her pies, and Jared was not yet old enough to put the proper tension on the bow to give a killing strike.

He couldn’t do much other than trail after his father and learn how to be quiet and track their prey. Then he learned the rather unpleasant business of gutting and dressing their quarry, and all in all the berry picking had been the best part of those early hunting trips.

As he grew older, he outgrew his youthful impatience at tracking, and hunting improved greatly when Jared could actually shoot the arrow at his game. But if he was to be honest, the best part of those bygone hunting trips had come when he was old enough to drink the ale that his father always carried along.

“I’m not ignoring you,” Jensen told him, breaking Jared out of his bout of nostalgia.

“You haven’t spoken a word to me since yesterday!” Jared protested.

Jensen sighed and arched an eyebrow at him. “Are you a woman?”

Jared scowled. “No, but I do rather feel like your mother. Manners, Jensen, are required even for magical hermits who drink strange brews out in the mountains.”

“I’m rude; is that what you are saying?”

“I’m saying that you are grumpy. You don’t even wish to be on this quest, and it shows. You have the same look about you that I had when I was ten and my mother told me to clean up the mess I made before supper.”

“And you had the bright idea to tell her that it was women’s work, and she made you clean and cook dinner,” Jensen said, his lips twitching like they wanted to smile while a somewhat distant look entered his eyes.

Jared felt nonplussed. “How did you know that?” he whispered.

Jensen shook himself, and the corners of his mouth turned back down into their seemingly perpetual frown. “I didn’t. It’s just what little boys do. An educated guess, if you will. It makes for a great parlor trick. I should teach it to you. You’ll be called, ‘Jared the Great,’ in no time,” he rambled as he busied himself with his bedroll.

“You looked at my past,” Jared accused, not buying the answer.

Jensen sighed, “No, Jared. It is a human mind game. If I’d guessed wrong, you would’ve brushed it off as me jesting with you. When I’m right, it makes people think that I’m… clairvoyant or something. It reinforces my magical position without me actually having to delve into the arts.”

“You don’t like using your powers?” Jared tried to fight the surprise in his voice, but he couldn’t.

“I have no feelings for them one way or the other,” Jensen answered. “What I dislike is what they represent.”

“And what is that?”

“The loss of my mother, if you must know,” the words were angry and defiant as Jensen spat them out.

Swallowing, Jared dared to reach out and touch the coiled muscle of Jensen’s shoulder. “It must be difficult for you to never have her talked about in your circles, like she never even existed.”

The bark of laughter that Jensen choked out was hoarse, more like a bear’s cry than anything human. “You have no idea.”

“No,” Jared agreed, “but perhaps I can help? You can talk to me about her, if you’d like? I haven’t got anybody to tell.”

“Not at the moment you don’t, but you’ll have many admirers when I take you back to the palace. Time spent in my company is worth a good bit of attention in the gossip rankings of the court, or at least the palace workers.”

The words were a brush off, a signal for Jared to regain his distance. Part of him wanted to push. He wanted to ease Jensen’s burden, but he had no right force the issue.

When Jensen rolled over to his side and feigned sleep, Jared did the same.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On the thirteenth day of their travels, Jensen took a fork in the road that lead them to a barely known village that was little more than a notation to most who would come by it.

Jared very much doubted that there was anybody of any significant mystical power in the town. The worst they had was a card thief who called himself a magician.

He knew this because it was his hometown.

Clearing his throat, he said, “Some things are beyond coincidence and political mind tricks.”

“Mmm, but not above the asking, especially when you are the trusted magical advisor to the king, and all his subjects are frightened of your powers,” Jensen answered him.

“You didn’t need to go south,” Jared accused more than asked.

“I did not,” Jensen agreed.

“But this will put you behind,” Jared protested even as his spirits lifted at the thought of seeing his home and family.

“It will, but it will also ease the ache in your heart. I would be a heartless brigand if I held it within my power to grant you reprieve and did not offer it.”

Jared shook his head. “You are on a mission from His Royal Highness! Such matters make my personal woes insignificant.”

Jensen pursed his lips and seemed to think for a moment before answering. “A good king pays attention to what his people need. He is only king so long as his subjects allow him to be. Leniency is as important as punishment in one’s governance, else your farmers will beat upon their plowshares and fight against you. And gifts of the heart are more important than any boon of material favor that the king could send to your town.”

“But you are not the king’s political advisor, nor his ambassador,” Jared argued.

“I am not, but all the same, a few days of travel will not make so much of a difference in what I seek.” Jensen’s eyes shifted ever so slightly, and Jared felt uneasy in the pit of his stomach.

“Tell me truth,” Jared encouraged softly. “I told you I do not wish to cause you to lie.”

“I merely seek to keep you from knowing about the scaffolding, Jared. If you do not know that there is something that could collapse, you cannot be held responsible when it does.”

“But I already know! I know now that you are hiding something from me,” Jared protested.

“And you are welcome to send word to the king once we reach your village. The post still comes here on a regular enough basis, and I know you capable of writing. Do your duty and inform him of my treachery, but for the love of the crown, will you at least visit your parents as long as I have sojourned this far?” Jensen snapped.

Jared frowned. “It is that important to you that I see them? Are they ill?”

“As far as I know, nothing ails them. But you, Jared, you are ill with the want of home. And I may not be able to quell my own desires for my family, but I can ease yours.”

The earnestness in Jensen’s voice, his whole demeanor, told Jared that whatever was driving Jensen’s need to aide him, it was important. He didn’t know what was going on in the sorcerer’s mind, but he could tell that whatever it was the pain of it was eating away at him, and Jared’s assignment had been to offer assistance to the man.

Only Jared couldn’t be Jensen’s long dead mother or his departed father either. He could only offer what he had.

“I’ll agree on one condition,” he said, trying to firm his voice out of its nervous shake into a bartering tone.

“And what is that?” Jensen asked.

“If you come with me to visit my home, I’ll not send the letter,” Jared said.

Jensen smirked. “You weren’t going to send the letter anyway.”

“I most certainly was,” Jared told him primly. Then his mind caught up, and he asked, “Was that an agreement?”

“Jared,” Jensen said with an actual grin, “take my advice. Don’t ever try to become a diplomat.”

Jared made a face at him to defend his pride against the slight, but inside he was cheering. He might not be the best person for the job, and he might not be cut out of the right cloth for the long term, but he was definitely getting a handle on the king’s Jensen thing.

Now all he had to do was get a handle on _his_ Jensen thing.


End file.
